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Panasonic’s newest slim and stylish touch-screen digital camera, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX580 (the successor to DMC-FX500), features 12.1-megapixel resolution, 25mm ultra-wide-angle LEICA DC lens with F2.8 brightness, 5x optical zoom, large 3-inch touch sensitive LCD screen and newly developed Venus Engine V processor that includes twin CPUs to boast approximately 2.4x processing capability.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX580 may look like Just Another Ultra-Compact Camera, but it has two features that most cameras in its class do not.
The first is a 3-inch touchscreen LCD display.
While many camera manufacturers have touchscreen cameras, the FX580 is somewhat unique in that it doesn’t force you to use the touchscreen for everything — there are “regular” controls too.

Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-FX580 features:

• 12.1 effective megapixel CCD

• 3-inch LCD screen display (230,000 pixels)
• 25mm ultra-wide-angle LEICA DC lens with F2.8 brightness and 5x optical zoom
• New touch-screen interface and conventional operation system with the cursor key for intuitive control
• Panasonic’s new advanced iA (Intelligent Auto) mode incorporates a system of technologies, including MEGA O.I.S., Intelligent ISO Control, Face Detection, Face Recognition, AF Tracking, Intelligent Exposure and Intelligent Scene Selection
• Panasonic’s newly developed Venus Engine V processor
• High sensitivity up to ISO 6400
• Records High Definition (1280 x 720p) motion images at 30 fps
• New Panorama Assist scene mode allowing users to shoot a number of consistent photos, either vertically or horizontally, by aligning them according to a guide that overlaps the screen
• Bundled PanoramaMaker software

The DMC-FX580’s touch-screen is a hybrid operation system combining the new touch-screen interface and a conventional operation system with the cursor key for intuitive control, and it comes in an aluminum body in silver and black colors.

The Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-FX580is available now with huge savings for $209.95 - that’s 40% less (you save $140.00)!

Kodak is back with the brand new Kodak Z981 superzoom compact digital camera one year after the announcement of the Z980 super-zoom at CES 2009.

The model name “advances” by just +1, but the camera actually jumps to a 14mp sensor and 26X zoom ratio, up from 12mp and 24X.

The lens is also Schneider-branded, f2.6-f5, and has a 26-676mm equivalent focal range, enough for most photo-amateurs, along with image stabilization.

The Kodak Z981 sports a really useful vertical shutter button and a detachable vertical (non-battery) grip.

On the plus side, the camera has RAW capture and PASM which is short for Program, Aperture and Shutter priority, and Manual exposure: that means that Pro-oriented photographers will get their teeth on Pro-features and a less than 0.2 second click-to-capture specification.

Other features include a huge 3-inch display and (as required by 2010 standards!) one-touch upload to popular web-services (flickr, youtube, facebook, etc).

The Kodak Z981 takes four AA batteries, and Kodak actually includes four of the pre-charged (presumably LSD) types. This is a nice touch for AA cameras.

The Kodak Z981 is available for pre-order now at Amazon for $330.